TORONTO, ONTARIO – Bruins coach Claude Julien came away impressed just like everybody else while watching the four goal performance by No. 1 overall pick Auston Matthews in his NHL debut. It’s not every day you see an 19-year-old kid dance through an entire NHL lineup for a goal as Matthews did to all five Senators on ice - plus the goalie - for his second strike out of the four goal barrage.
The B’s bench boss also knows he’s got some young defensemen in his lineup that are still getting their sea legs at the NHL level one game into the season.
So it should be very interesting to see if Julien comes up with something a little different to neutralize Matthews in his home Leafs debut at the Air Canada Centre on Saturday night.
“[Toronto] has got a good up-and-coming team. That’s not a surprise to anybody. They’ve done a good job of drafting lately, and they certainly decided to develop those players and give them some opportunities,” said Julien, who will also be contending with Toronto first rounder Mitch Marner up front along with Matthews. “Developing is one thing, but if you score four goals [like Matthews] I’m not sure how much development you need there. There’s no doubt they’re a good team, and you have to respect them.
“They’re well-coached, they’re going to compete hard all night long, they’re going to be on top of you and they’re a good skating team. So it’s an opportunity for us to face a good challenge [Saturday night] and try to build off that first win.”
One tool the B’s won’t have in their arsenal to shut down Matthews is Patrice Bergeron, who likely won't play this weekend after suffering a lower body injury during practice that knocked him out of Thursday night’s season opener. Julien said that the Bruins won’t have much of an update on No. 37 until prior to Saturday’s game, but it makes little sense to rush Bergeron back into the lineup if he needs a little more time to heal up.
Perhaps watching David Backes score six goals against the Blue Jackets might lessen the urgency to push Bergeron just a little bit. Whatever the case, the Bruins go into Saturday night at the ACC on full alert after watching the Auston Matthews highlight machine, and fully aware the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 Draft was so impressive that NBCSN changed their programming so they could air a Canadian team’s home opener on the US airwaves.
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That’s about as unheard of as a kid from Arizona going first overall in an NHL draft, and proceeding to strike four times in his very first game suiting up to play in the best hockey league in the world.
“That was very impressive,” said 23-year-old rookie D-man Rob O’Gara of Matthews’ auspicious NHL debut. “I think I’m like five years older than him. I don’t think I could’ve done that at 18 [years old]. I mean, I know I couldn’t have done that at 18 [years old]. It was fun to watch, especially in just two periods. That was crazy.”
O’Gara and the Bruins will be out of “watch mode” and into “stop mode” on Saturday night when it comes to the Leafs and their generational player in Matthews.